


How Far For Peace?

by Destinytale



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Difficult Decisions, F/M, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), James is Nice, M/M, Peace treaties gone wrong, Platonic Hidge, Pregnant Pidge | Katie Holt, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Unplanned Pregnancy, Voltron takes care of Pidge, Whump, angst angst angst, platonic plance, platonic shidge, sex trade
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2020-03-07 19:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18880111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destinytale/pseuds/Destinytale
Summary: “How far, little one,” he whispered as he dragged his hands along Pidge’s skin.“Are you willing to go for peace?”-Eight years after Allura’s death and the end of the war, Pidge suddenly falls pregnant and refuses to tell anyone any details about how it came to be or the father of the child.





	1. Chapter One

The war had ended almost an entire decade ago, only another two years until that milestone.

The Paladins had all gone their separate ways, handling life as they needed.

Lance had become one of the leaders of Altea beside Coran, the two were the lead in resource management across the entire coalition. They were the backbone of the coalition, the one who kept everything stable and supplied.

Shiro and Hunk were both aboard the Atlas, keeping the peace and allies they'd worked so hard to gain as just that. They discussed ways to better planets and civilizations, monitored governments for threats and made sure that there could never be a repeat of Zarkon.

Keith led the Blade of Marmora beside his half sister, Acxa and her friends. They went to the planets still recovering from Zarkon and the war, providing aid to help those poor people get back to a self sustaining point. Though, Keith did keep a small part of the Blade as a fighting force, just in case they encountered trouble on a planet.

And Pidge was on earth, she was training the next generation of defenders and revolutionizing technology. Pidge made new weapons and tools for all of them, she was the reason they had such advanced monitoring systems to make sure that the universe was threat free and that if there was a threat, they'd be ready.

Pidge was their first line of defense, and likely always would be. She had to be in top shape constantly, ready for a fight at a moments notice and didn't take a single day off.

That's why Keith was so insistent that he could handle the uprising on his own.

A military man, a General from Zarkon's original fleet actually, Brax, was displeased with how the Galra of Daibazaal were simply managing their own planet instead of expanding. He wanted to go and conquer other planets and begin another empire.

Keith tried everything. Warnings, visits with therapists, demotions, jail time. Hell, he took Brax to the graves of all those lost in the war to remind him of the harm and pain that had been done as a result of the war.

None of it worked. None of it stopped Brax from gathering a small fleet and escaping Daibazaal in the dead of night to go and wreak havoc.

The Blade followed him, ex-soldiers willing to shed blood to keep the peace stopped his soldiers and tried to track him down.

This game of cat and mouse went on for months, Keith and his troops putting down one of his attacks and thinking they had Brax right in their grasp only to find out he was halfway across the galaxy organizing an entirely new attack.

It was beyond frustrating to feel like you were so close only to figure out you hadn't been the entire time. He knew he was getting somewhere, that he could get Brax and put a stop to him.

Until it all stopped on its own.

Brax came back to Daibazaal. Hands up in surrender, no weapons on him. He let himself get taken in without a word.

Keith didn't trust it for a moment.

He decided he'd bring it up to the other Paladins at their annual meeting in the next few months. Keith was honestly excited more than ever to see them.

After about eight years of waiting he decided he was finally going to man the fuck up and ask Pidge out. They'd gone of unofficial dates before, bars on earth whenever he was there for business, dinners on Altea without the others. Hell, they'd almost slept together about three times but ended up getting cockblocked by their jobs.

He was going to stop pussyfooting around and just ask her out, make it plain and simple that he liked her and wanted to be with her and would do whatever it took to make their relationship work.

Yet, as Keith boarded his ship to go to Altea for their annual dinner he found himself so nervous he thought he'd be sick. He'd fought countless battles, almost died more times than he could remember, been in an abyss for two years with his mother and attacked an intergalactic dictator head on with nothing but a knife and asking a girl out was what scared him the most.

His mother and Kolivan had tried to assure Keith that he would do fine and there was no way she'd reject him. It made him feel like he was in middle school about to ask his crush to go to some shitty school dance with him.

Still, he appreciated the reassurance and simply tried to squish down his nerves on the flight to Altea. The group chat the Paladins all had was up to his left side. Everyone was so excited to see each other.

The chat was alive with bubbly messages and the constant question of when everyone would arrive, all of them had sent at least five messages.

Well, everyone but Pidge. She hadn't even sent a single message and hadn't seemed to have viewed any of them. It was making all of them a bit nervous.

She never missed out on the chance to talk with her friends, even when she had just gotten off of work and was half asleep Pidge would talk with them. The conversation soon turned from people's arrival to if Pidge was coming at all.

Shiro was quick to assure them all that Pidge was likely just handling some last minute issues on Earth and simply wasn't able to respond or check her phone at that time. She'd have to come to the dinner, none of them ever missed it. It was an unspoken rule.

Shiro literally scheduled intergalactic meetings around that dinner and once Keith had shown up despite that he should've been in a hospital with the state of his broken ankle. No one ever missed the dinner.

Keith landed his ship on the normal docking spot, stepping out and smiling at the sunshine that swept across the planet. Altea was as beautiful as Allura always said it was, bright green grass everywhere you looked and beautiful flowers could be found anywhere you looked.

Keith would've retired and lived on Altea in a heartbeat if he could, but there was still more work to do with the Blades and he'd only just turned twenty nine. He wasn't that old yet.

He walked down the path to the normal spot they had their dinner, table already set and Lance, Shiro and Hunk waiting.

"Hey, Keith!" Hunk cheered, getting up and rushing to give him a hug.

"Hunk!" Keith laughed, hugging him back tightly.  
"I've missed you so much!"

"How's the Blade?" Lance chuckled, waiting until Hunk pulled away to hug Keith himself.

"Busy," Keith sighed, hugging Lance back.  
"How's Altea?"

"Busy." Lance groaned, slumping over.

Keith could only imagine that having to keep a constant supply of resources stable would be busy and exhausting, but Lance rarely complained and handled it well and better than any of the others could've.

Shiro was the next to pull Keith into a tight hug, the two holding each other close and mumbling about how much they missed each other.

"Has Pidge contacted you?" Lance asked as they all sat down, looking over at Keith with a worried gaze.

"No.. I was hoping she would've reached out to one of you guys." Keith mumbled, shrugging off his leather jacket. He was equally worried, it wasn't like Pidge to just suddenly go silent. Especially on such a big and important day.

"I'm sure she'll show up." Hunk sighed, propping up his head on his hands.  
"It's not the first time Pidge has been late."

That was true, last year Pidge had ended up being late to the dinner because of a student nearly blowing up a fighter jet which she needed to handle the aftermath of.

"Yeah," Lance nodded with a grin, "She's a busy gal afterall, running the entire Garrison defense system and all."

They all laughed and nodded, Pidge was the one still defending the universe while they all kept the peace.

"Do you think she'll ever let us call her Katie?" Hunk asked eagerly, eyes shining at the prospect.

"If you want a black eye." Keith scoffed, the girl was protective over her real name. None of them could blame her, she'd been Pidge for so long and was respected as such. Pidge was a Paladin Of Voltron, Katie was girl from earth.

"Have any of you gone to visit her lately?" Shiro asked, looking each of them over.

That causes all of the three younger men to freeze, because they'd all visited each other.

"No..." Lance mumbled, looking down at his hands.

"I... uh..." Hunk stammered, growing flustered. 

"I haven't visited any of you in the past year. I've been in space." Keith huffed, but was clearly still feeling guilty.

"Guys.." Shiro groaned, disappointment in his voice strong as ever.  
"C'mon.."

"I'm sorry, we just barely ever see her, I mean, Lance comes to the Atlas to drop off supplies! Pidge just sends a drone!" Hunk whined, setting his chin down on the table in shame.

"Uh.. yeah.. same thing here.." lance mumbled, messing with his hair in an attempt to stay out of the mess.

"Guys!" Keith snapped, "seriously?! She's probably pissed off at all of us!" 

All four of them groan at the thought. Pidge being angry at you was practically a death wish, and if she was angry at you as a group? Good luck ever getting forgiveness. If they'd all ticked her off, or even worse, hurt her feelings, they'd be lucky if she ever spoke a word to them ever again.

"She's probably not mad," Lance said nervously, "I mean. She's busy, we're all busy. Pidge wouldn't hold a grudge against /us/," 

"She totally would." Hunk sighed, "she'd hold a grudge against us until we have to bury her in her grave. She'd make us lower her casket so we could let her down one more time."

"She would." Shiro mumbled, frowning.

"Are you forgetting that earth is just an hour and a half away and we can go check on her?" Keith asked, a brow raised.

"If she's not here by sundown we'll go." Shiro smiled, "we won't have a dinner without her, whether Pidge likes it or not."

They all nodded in agreement, going on with their normal talks about their recent adventures and events in their lives.

Lance had managed to get a whole new school set up for the Altean children and was loving working with them, he considered them his own children, of course.

Shiro was managing to expand the entire coalition, gaining more and more planets and species into the hope of universal peace for as long as the universe existed.

And Hunk, well, he was planning to propose to Shay.

"Holy shit! No way!" Lance exclaimed, standing up in surprise.

"Yeah!" Hunk laughed, face red with embarrassment.  
"I mean, it's been eight years, I think it's time."

"More like it's /about/ time." Keith chuckled, "I'm happy for you, man. You two deserve to be happy."

"Thank you," Hunk smiled, rubbing the back of his neck.  
"I really appreciate it."

Shiro looked up at the sky, frowning.  
"It's almost sunset.."

"Pidge totally hates us." Hunk frowned, "She's never going to want to talk to us ever again."

"We're going to go and she's going to shoot us all down! This is it! We're dead because we forgot to visit!" Lance cried out, leaning back against his chair in absolute defeat.

"I think you guys are being a bit dramatic." Keith huffed, rolling his eyes. Pidge wouldn't actually shoot them or hate them for not visiting, right? Well, she had broken someone's hand that one time for trying to steal some of her tech, and she had almost strangled Matt when he took her food.  
"Never mind, she's totally going to kill us."

They all whimpered collectively, sinking down a bit further into their chairs as they immediately began to hatch a forgiveness plan.

Shiro was to go get as many of those peanut butter cookies as possible while they were on earth, Lance had to go collect a large bouquet of flowers, Hunk needed to whip up a new batch of Pidge's favorite homemade chocolates and Keith needed to figure out a way to distract her from shooting them all for them to apologize.

It was a flawed plan at best.

Lance had returned with an arm full of flowers to where Hunk had a huge tray of homemade chocolate and Shiro and Keith were trying to think of things to say to distract Pidge.

"Okay, this should be enough, right?" Lance asked, putting down the literal hundreds of flowers. All juniper flowers, the ones that grew all across Lance's farm.

"I mean, she'll have to admire dedication." Shiro mumbled, looking more nervous than anyone else.

They were all about to gather up their stuff and leave when another ship landed. An earth ship.

"Pidge!" They all cheered, practically tripping over each other as they raced up to the spaceship to greet her. Maybe they were wrong, maybe she wasn't mad and instead was just really late.

Yet, when the door opened it wasn't Pidge who stepped out. It was Matt.

"Uh.. hey." He grinned, leaving the others all more confused than ever.

"Where's Pidge?" Lance frowned, poking his head past Matt and into the ship. He groaned when he saw that she wasn't in there.

"She's mad at us, isn't she? Oh, we ruined our friendship with her!" Lance wailed, slumping over in absolute defeat and guilt.

"What?" Matt frowned, confused.

"We ruined it! I can't believe we ruined it!" Hunk cried out, beginning to pace around.

"I'll go get the stuff.." Shiro sighed, turning to go back to the table where everything was laying.

"What are you talking about?" Matt asked, looking over at Keith with wide eyes.

"Pidge probably hates us cause we all forgot to visit her," Keith frowned, running a hand through his hair.  
"That's why she didn't come.. right?"

"No, idiots. She's sick!" Matt scoffed. Shiro turned right back around, a smile on his face as they all relaxed considerably.

"What's she got?" Lance asked, beginning to fret over their youngest Paladin immediately.  
"Is it contagious? Can we come see her?"

"Well.." Matt mumbled, scratching the back of his neck.  
"It's a bit more.. complicated... than that."

"Complicated?" They all echoed, panic sparking inside of them all. Was she really sick? Was it serious? What if she had something she couldn't recover from? What if she had cancer?!

"It's.. uh.. well.." Matt stammered, looking down at his feet.  
"I'm technically not supposed to tell you guys what's going on.."

"Well you can't say that and then /not/ tell us!" Shiro yelled, all of them full on panicking now.

Pidge wouldn't just ask her brother to hide something from them so it had to be something serious. She had to be dying or something for her to go that far.

"She's going to die, isn't she?!" Lance yelped, "how long does she have left?!"

"There has to be a way to stop it! I mean, medicine has advanced so far! It can't be something we can't treat!" Keith insisted, eyes wide.

"We can see if some of the people in the coalition have a cure, surely they'd all be willing to help!" Hunk exclaimed, "we can't just sit back and let something serious happen to Pidge! She's our friend!"

"Matt, where is she? We need to go see her, does she need anything?" Shiro asked, gripping Matt by his shoulders tightly.

"Guys," Matt frowned, shifting anxiously in Shiro's grasp.

"Is it cancer? Does she have some form of cancer? I mean, she's been around so much weird space stuff! What if something gave her cancer?!" Lance exclaimed, jumping from conclusion to conclusion.

"What if she has brain cancer?! What if she can't remember us?!" Hunk shrieked, tugging at his own hair.

"I'll cancel my Blade duties, Pidge is more important," Keith said firmly, pulling out his holoscreen to send a message to his mother and Acxa.

"Guys!" Matt huffed, gritting his teeth.

"What are we going to do about her training? I can't train the next generation of defenders!" Shiro groaned, "and I can't build a defense system like she could!"

"What are we going to tell the coalition?! That one of our best fighters died because of an /illness/?!" Hunk exclaimed, "what will we tell Coran?! He's already lost one of his family members! Loosing Pidge will be like loosing a daughter!"

"Guys!" Matt snapped.

"Maybe the pods could help!" Lance shouted, "pods can heal people, right?!"

"Pods can heal injuries." Shiro frowned, "not illnesses."

"It's worth a try!" Keith insisted, "we have to help somehow!"

"Guys!" Matt shouted.

"What?!" They all yelled, whirling around to Matt.

"Pidge isn't dying," Matt assured them, waiting until they all seemed to relax to let them speak again.

"Really?!" Lance grinned, eyes gleaming with tears.

"Really." Matt sighed, "She's just throwing up and wouldn't be able to handle the flight here."

"Oh thank Alfor.." Shiro murmured, finally relaxing fully.

"Then what's wrong? Just a stomach bug?" Keith asked, pressing for more information about their friend.

"Uh.. sorta.." Matt frowned, fiddling with his thumbs as he continued to look down at his feet.

"Sorta?" Hunk quirked a brow.  
"What do you mean sorta?"

"Well, she's just.. got something that makes her sick.. it's not really an illness.." Matt explained, biting his lip.

"So like a parasite?" Shiro tilted his head, confused.

"No, yes? Sorta?" Matt shrugged.  
"It's complicated."

"She's totally dying." Lance whined.

"What, no! He just told us she's not! She's not dying!" Hunks scoffed.

The four Paladins began to bicker back and forth; debating whether Matt was lying to them to save their feelings and worries or if they just really didn't know what was going on with her and Matt didn't understand how to explain it to them.

"Oh my god," Matt groaned.  
"Guys! Pidge is pregnant!"


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He'd told her he was sterile, but that he's worn a condom just in case. He'd told her that the drink would help with the pain.

James' hand was steady as he replaced the bandages on Pidge's back, making sure to look over the stitches on the claw wounds dragging down her sides.

"You're good," He hummed, handing Pidge her shirt. It was an oversized long sleeved blouse, the type meant to to make it look like you had wider hips and a slightly bigger stomach with how puffy the bottom got when you tucked it into your pants.

"Thank you," She sighed, sliding the garment on.

"No problem, Pidge. How are you feeling, still nauseous?" James asked, sitting in the chair in front of the medical bed she was sitting on.

"Incredibly so." Pidge grumbled, "I swear, I smell something and it's straight to the bathroom to puke."

"Well, that's typical for most pregnancies." James shrugged, "speaking of which, how is the tiny Holt doing?"

Pidge frowned, looking down at her stomach. A baby bump had already formed. She was almost four months pregnant with a child she hadn't ever planned on having.

"It's causing me a whole lot of issues." Pidge spat. She'd intended to hide her pregnancy as long as she possibly could, make it seem like it wasn't truly there until she figured out what to do. Unfortunately, that became impossible when the morning sickness hit her and she began to show. It was one trip to the infirmary and then everyone on her staff knew about the beast growing inside of her.

"Have you decided what to do?" James sighed, helping her down from the bed. He tended to be the one to treat her the most like glass. James was the one who found his friend hunched over a toilet puking more than she should've been at four AM and rushed her to the infirmary afterall. And he was the one who didn't judge her in the slightest when she said she didn't want the baby.

"No." Pidge huffed, letting James steady her as she got onto her feet. Her center of gravity was absolutely messed up. Despite only being shy of four months pregnant she looked more like she was in her third trimester.

Pidge didn't know if that was thanks to her being so small or the baby not being entirely human.

She'd have to ask Krolia about it sometime.

"You gotta make up your mind soon, Pidge. That baby won't wait for you." James reminded her as they walked out of the infirmary.

"I know.." Pidge groaned, "I just can't make a cohesive thought before my stomach decides to act up!"

"I'll see if Iverson has anything for nausea, though I don't know if many people will let you take any pills since, y'know, you're pre-" James got cut off by Pidge being scooped up in a tight hug and twirled around.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" Lance exclaimed loudly, holding Pidge close as he twirled with her in his arms. James grimaced, he could practically see her turning green.

"Lance-" Pidge choked out, pushing against him.  
"Lance, put me down I'm gonna be sick!"

The older man immediately dropped Pidge like she was made of acid, her stomach churned as she stumbled backwards and James was quick to grab her and steady her. Pidge had a hand clamped tightly over her mouth and eyes wide as she felt the far too familiar nausea.

"Breathe, Pidge." He frowned, "You need to go to the bathroom to puke?"

"No, no.. I'm fine.." Pidge groaned, taking a deep breath and straightening up. She looked over to her friends who had all of their gifts for her and big smiles on their faces.  
"What do you mean, 'congratulations'?"

"You're gonna have a baby! None of us knew you even had a boyfriend!" Hunk cheered, a bright smile on his face as he held out the chocolates for her.

Pidge immediately recoiled like they were toxic. The mere smell of the sugar within the sweets making her stomach do a flip and the nausea kick up a notch.

"I don't have a boyfriend! Wait, how do you.." her glare turned to her brother.  
"Matthew fucking Holt, what part of sworn to secrecy do you not understand?!" She screeched, trying to lunge for her brother but James held her back.

"No, no, stress makes you sick. Think about how much you /don't/ want to puke for the fifth time today!" James yelped, pulling Pidge close and holding her tightly.

"Aw! James is the dad?" Shiro smiled which made both Pidge and James go pale at the very thought.

Keith's blood was boiling at the idea, the notion of James, fucking James Griffin having Pidge underneath him and doing unspeakable things to her. Getting her /pregnant/ no less.

"James isn't the father." Pidge said bluntly, snapping Keith out of his anger with a sigh of relief.

"Ina would kill me." James groaned, slumping at the idea of getting someone pregnant and then having to explain that to his girlfriend.

"I think I'd jump off a cliff before I had sex with you, no offense." Pidge smiled, looking back at James. She'd never once thought of James that way and she knew he'd never thought of her like that. The two just didn't have that type of relationship.

"The feeling is mutual." James chuckled, "You good though? Tiny Holt still trying to make you sick?"

Pidge groaned, shaking her head.  
"I'm good. Just a bit dizzy. And overwhelmed. And pissed. And wanting to murder my brother."

"Entirely understandable, but Pidge, they're your friends, they deserve to know." Matt insisted, putting a hand on Shiro's arm.  
"They care about you and want to help."

"So does everyone in this fucking building. Whoop de fucking do." Pidge spat, practically trembling with anger. She didn't want people's help. She wanted to get the damn pregnancy over with and forget it ever happened in the first place.

"So, it's not James and you don't have a boyfriend.." Hunk mumbled, the wheels in his brain churning as he tried to figure it out.  
"Was it a one night stand? Does he know? Are you going to tell him?"

Pidge seized up, gritting her teeth.  
"It was a mistake. And no, I'm not going to tell him. Ever."  
She didn't want to tell that man about her child. He didn't deserve to know. Not when he lied to her and caused this.

"Wait, you're not going to tell the /father of your child/ that you're pregnant?!" Shiro exclaimed, he was in absolute disbelief. How could she not want the man who helped create that child there to help her with her pregnancy? Didn't she want him there so he could see his baby?

"That man is not the father of this child even if he helped create it!" Pidge snapped, eyes blazing with absolute fury.  
"He is not going to come anywhere near this baby unless I'm in a fucking grave!"

James was quick to grab her arm and try to soothe her, mumbling that it was okay and that no one was going to make her doing anything.

"Can you handle them, please? I have work to do." Pidge huffed, tugging her arm away from James and walking down the hallway.

"Pidge!" Keith called, worry thick in his voice.  
"Come on! We just want to help you!"

Pidge just walked faster, hugging herself as she went. She could still hear his voice, still feel his breath on her neck as he spoke.

"How far, little one," he whispered as he dragged his hands along her skin.  
"Are you willing to go for peace?"  
He had coerced her into bed with the promise of what they had worked so hard for.

He'd told her he was sterile, but that he's worn a condom just in case. He'd told her that the drink would help with the pain.

Yet there she was, claw marks have to get restitched often to close them up and a baby inside her womb. Pidge didn't want to see him ever again and she didn't want his baby.

"I think you should leave," James murmured as he watched Pidge go. She was obviously upset and he didn't want to make things worse by having the Paladins there.

"Leave? When she's pregnant and obviously not happy about it?" Keith scoffed, gaze sharp.  
"You've got to be kidding."

"Matt," James said, tilting his head in the direction Pidge went.  
"Just to be sure."

"Right." Matt mumbled, nodding as he rushed after his little sister.

"If you all knew the circumstances in which she got pregnant you would not blame her for being upset." James hissed once they were all alone.  
"Now, if you're staying. You're staying in the garrison, let's go get you idiots a room."

"What happened? Doesn't she want the baby?" Lance asked, following after James as he began walking.

They were all so confused, Pidge wasn't the type to just hook up with someone. Much less hook up with someone and end up getting pregnant. They'd all assumed it was intentional, that she was trying to start a family and move on from the war.

"No. She doesn't want the baby. I'm surprised she's carried it for as long as she has." James admitted, frowning.  
He could remember when they'd just found out, when James and Veronica pulled Pidge out of one of the classes she was teaching to show her the results of her blood work. She was pregnant. Almost a month pregnant, actually.

He remembered how Pidge began to cry and sob and whimper about how she couldn't be pregnant, she couldn't have a baby. How the man had said he was wearing a condom, had given her something to ease the pain because as soon as James and Veronica learned the species of that man they understood that it would hurt like hell without something to sedate her.

She'd begged them not to tell the other Paladins for hours, that they wouldn't understand, that they couldn't under any circumstances know. Yet there they were, walking down the hall with James asking as many questions as they could rattle off.

"How far along is she? Pidge looks like she's ready to pop!" Lance exclaimed, eyes wide. He found it the hardest to understand why Pidge wouldn't want a baby, whether the father was involved or not. Didn't she want a family of her own?

"She's almost four months." James answered, which caused all of them to gawk.

"Four months?! She looks like she could go into labor any day!" Hunk shouted, eyes wide with surprise. Pidge looked like she'd not only go into labor any day, but she also looked like she had to be carrying twins.

"I blame that on her carrying a half human baby." James shrugged, he knew that the mans species was a rather large one and Pidge was already small for a human.

"Wait, wait, wait, back up. /half/ human?!" Shiro snapped, "What do you mean half human?!"

"It means the baby is only half human." James said bluntly.

"Oh my god, Pidge banged an alien!" Lance gasped, "Pidge fucked a fucking alien!"

"Please stop talking about Pidge having sex with something." Keith groaned, rubbing his temples to try and force down his anger and jealousy.

"Pidge didn't fuck anything. Pidge didn't want this." James growled, "Pidge didn't want to sleep with him in the first place!"

That caused the Paladins to all fall silent, suddenly all their questions and thoughts stopped because never had they considered that Pidge hadn't wanted to have had sex with whoever got her pregnant.

"Are you say she was-" Hunk began but James cut him off before he could say that damned word that Pidge had strictly banned.

"No. She wasn't. It was consensual just.." James groaned, debating if he should explain. Pidge would hate him for telling them, but it would get them to understand why she was so upset. That way they'd stop asking questions about why she was upset but then they might start pestering her about if she was okay or not.

Either way, it was a loose-loose, they'd bug her no matter what but at least they'd stop questioning her motives.

"Just what?" Shiro asked quietly, fear behind his question. He didn't want to think about someone invading their youngest Paladin like that. To have the small bit of innocence she had left after the war taken from her.

"After she agreed he drugged her, gave her something that made her barely able to think and he promised he used protection but obviously not." James spat, his rage swelling up again. Pidge insisted it wasn't rape. Swore it wasn't rape, that she'd agreed and gave consent so it wasn't rape.

It was just a man who'd underestimated how much of a drug a human could take and decided that he didn't want to wear protection because she was on birth control, just a birth control that they hadn't made to stop the sperm of non human life forms.

“Do you know who did it? Can we find them?!” Keith snapped, his own anger radiating off of him like a fever.

“I don’t know who did it and Pidge refuses to talk about it.” James sighed, frowning.  
“All I know is that they were Galra.”


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She could force down every bit of affection she had for the child growing inside of her belly and convince herself that she didn't want to keep the child. Pidge could force herself to make one more difficult decision.

Pidge groaned as she opened up her eyes. She was tucked into bed, cuddled up in her sheets. Her clock read 11:34 which made her jump.

She was two hours late to work, Pidge quickly scrambled out of bed, about to rush to get dressed when her stomach lurched harshly.

"No, no, no.." Pidge whined, trying to take deep breathes to force down the feeling in her gut to no avail. Her stomach did another turn and she quickly rushed to her bathroom, skidding onto her knees as she hunched over the toilet and vomited up the bit of food she made for herself in the middle of the night.

"Fuck.. not now.." Pidge gasped, trying to stand back up only to fall and throw up once again. Her stomach was convulsing and making her vomit at the mere thought of moving, her head was throbbing, her joints felt stiff and overall she was exhausted.

As much as Pidge wanted to force her body to suck it up and go do her job, she wanted to just crawl back into bed and rest even more.

It was too much for her; so much more than she could handle and more than her body could handle.

Pidge silently cursed herself as she reached for her communicator to call James.

He was out in the classroom beside the hangar with the Paladins, they were handling Pidge's class so she could sleep in and get some necessary rest. From what James had told them she needed it with how much she insisted on working.

"I really appreciate this, guys." James smiled as the students all went out to run their drills.  
"Pidge needs a bit of a break and she's so stubborn about it."

"It's no issue at all!" Lance grinned, carrying back the pile of papers that the students had filled out for them to grade.  
"Anything to help her!"

"I didn't realize Pidge did so much around here." Hunk sighed, reading over the thick as all hell lesson plan Pidge had set to the side.  
"I mean, she really is the one who makes sure the next generation of defenders know their stuff.."

"My brain hurts.." Keith whined as he looked over the holoscreen with all of the slides Pidge had made, it was rocket science and flight patterns and engine cores. Things Keith thought he knew.

"And to think, she used to fly with them before she started to get morning sickness." Shiro mumbled, looking out the window at the students in the MFEs.

"Pidge loved it too," James chuckled, standing beside Shiro.  
"And in her free time she did robotics, made Chip and River and all that."

The Paladins all groaned, and they thought they were busy. Pidge was running an entire school, defense system and inventing.

"Oh, shit. That's her," James frowned as his communicator began to buzz.

Keith, Lance, Hunk and Shiro all perked up, immediately dropping what they were doing and rushing to hover over James and try to listen in on the conversation.

"Hey, Pidge! How did you sleep?" James hummed, putting the communicator on speaker so they could hear.

"First of all, stop sounding so fucking cherry, second of all. I'm fucking calling it.." Pidge groaned, sounding out of breath and overall miserable.

"What?" Lance whispered, a look of concern on his face. None of the Paladins understood what that meant, was she hurt?

"Wait, seriously?" James asked, surprised.

"Yes, seriously! I can barely move without getting sick and everything fucking aches-" Pidge's voice breaks halfway through her sentence, tears pricking at her eyes.  
"I just- I can't do it.."

"Hey, woah, it's okay. You need a day off, Pidge. I'm gonna send someone down to bring you some stuff." James assures her, looking back at the Paladins and gesturing for all of them to go.

They all grinned and nodded, ecstatic at the idea of helping Pidge out through her pregnancy in anyway they could. Immediately they were buzzing among themselves, whispering as they tried to figure out what to get for Pidge and how to help her.

"You just hold tight, Pidge. They'll be down soon. Make sure you get some rest today." James smiled before hanging up the communicator and turning to the four men.  
"She's sensitive to sugar and most smells, just she's been really loving any type of red meat lately. Protein and all that fun shit."

"Steak and eggs would be a good breakfast in bed!" Hunk chirped, already bouncing with excitement.  
"And some tea to help calm her stomach!"

"Lots of pillows to help her get comfortable," Shiro grinned, "She said she feels achy. Maybe a humidifier too to help."

"We'll have to get that woman some new clothes to wear too, I mean, what she was wearing barely fit and it didn't not look comfortable." Lance sighed, "we'll see what kind of stuff she likes then go get it from the mall so she has plenty."

"I'm going to ask Kolivan to send my mom and Kosmo, I'm sure Pidge will like that." Keith smiled and the four then all grinned before breaking off to do their decided tasks.

Hunk bolted for the kitchen, practically kicking half of the chefs out so he could cook for his friend while in the meantime Shiro went to raid the Garrison medical supply closet. Lance rushed out of the building on a cruiser to find the closest clothing store that would carry maternity clothing and Keith bolted for the communications deck. 

Pidge in the meantime honest to god thought she was dying. She'd been hunched over the toilet for nearly half an hour and anytime she so much as shifted her stomach punished her.

Her mind wandered. Was what she did really worth it? Was giving herself up to that man to avoid conflict truly something she should've done? Because of that Pidge had a baby inside of her, a baby who's genetics were shared with a man she despised.

Pidge sobbed, entire body shaking as large tears streaked down her face. She could give up the baby, give them to a family that wanted it. She could go on with her life and pretend it never happened.

She could force down every bit of affection she had for the child growing inside of her belly and convince herself that she didn't want to keep the child. Pidge could force herself to make one more difficult decision.

She had to, afterall. Pidge couldn't take care of a baby all on her own. Pidge sniffled, wiping her eyes and looking up as there was a knock at her door

"Hey, Pidge? You in here?" Keith asked as he opened up the door to her room.

"Yeah," She croaked, hearing him set down whatever he had and walk over to the bathroom where she was still sitting on the floor.

"Pidge.." Keith sighed, grabbing a wash cloth from the sink counter and getting it wet.

"I'm sorry.." Pidge whimpered as he crouched down in front of her and wiped off her mouth and jaw.

"Don't apologize, this isn't your fault." Keith murmured, frowning as he cleaned her off.

"Yes it is. I did this." Pidge looked up at him, eyes wide and still filled with tears.

Guilt flared up in Keith, he should've done something, should've been there to help her. Because none of them had been at her side for over four months she was sitting on her bathroom floor, pregnant, puking and miserable.

Keith took a deep breath, sitting on the floor in front of her and taking both of her hands.

"Katie Holt. I promise you that no matter what happens, no matter what you choose to do. I'll be here. I'll make sure you're okay and I'll protect you." Keith said firmly, looking her in eye.  
"I won't leave you, not until you tell me to."

Pidge stared up at him, tears beginning to drip down her face again as she whimpered.

"You're not alone in this, we're all here for you. I'm here for you." Keith smiled, running a hand through her hair.  
"I'm sorry I haven't been here enough. I should've been here from the very beginning. Pidge, holy shit, I like you. So fucking much. So much that it hurts and damnit I want to be with you if you'll have me."

Pidge smiled, laughing softly and nodding.  
"Of course I'll have you.. that's all I've wanted from you.."

Keith grinned, hugging Pidge gently.  
"I'd totally kiss you but.."

"But I just threw up and that would be disgusting," Pidge groaned, resting her head on his shoulder. She didn't feel as sick anymore, she didn't feel as nervous or nauseas because Pidge finally knew she wasn't alone. She finally knew that Keith was there and had her back.

"Yeah. You going to be alright if I move you? You'll be a lot more comfy in your bed." Keith murmured, sliding his arms around her.

"I'll be good, just, go slow." Pidge sighed, letting Keith scoop her up bridal style and carry her out to her bedroom.

Shiro, Hunk and Lance were there. The three of them were setting up everything they had. Hunk was making the tea for Pidge, Lance was setting out all of the clothes and Shiro was setting up the humidifier.

"What are you all doing here...?" Pidge murmured, head resting against Keith's chest as he carried her. Her bed was a literal mountain of pillow and Shiro quickly jumped to rearrange them all as Keith lowered her onto her bed.

"We came to help!" Hunk cheered, putting all of the food onto a tray.  
"You deserve a nice day off!"

"Or a month off!" Lance scoffed, looking Pidge over.  
"And new clothes that actually fit! You must feel like shit in those!"

"Oh.." Pidge looked down at what she was wearing, one of the biggest shirts she could find and a pair of loose shorts.  
"Uh.. I guess..?"

Lance grabbed a comfortable cotton blend dress and a new bra that would actually fit her.

"Shoo!" He said to the two brother, ushering them away from her.  
"Go set something up! I'm gonna help her get changed!"

Pidge giggled as Keith pouted and reluctantly let go of her, going to help Shiro with the humidifier to get it at the setting Pidge would enjoy.

"Alright, arms up!" Lance laughed, waiting until she did so to pull the supposed to be loose shirt off of her. Against her belly and growing chest though, it seemed far too fitted. Lance hummed, grabbing the bra and helping her slide it on before clipping it for her.

"Good?" He asked, adjusting he straps.

"Perfect," Pidge breathed, smiling as Lance helping her get the dress on.  
"Thank you so much.."

Lance smiled, smoothing out the fabric but stayed clear of the baby bump.  
The dress was long sleeved to keep her nice and cozy and actually fit her properly so there wouldn't be anymore uncomfortably tight fabric on her skin.

"It's no problem at all, lay down, okay?" Lance chuckled, pressing a kiss to her forehead.  
"I'm gonna grab a bucket. Just in case."

Pidge nodded and Shiro grabbed a blanket for her while Keith began to rearrange the pillows to suit her needs, asking her every time he moved one if she was comfortable or wanted the pillow in a different spot. By the time he was done Pidge could've sworn she was laying on a damn cloud. Shiro pulled a blanket over her, letting it cover her up to the top of her stomach.

"I got a weighted blanket too, they help with discomfort and anxiety." Shiro hummed as he draped that over her. Pidge had to admit, it felt nice and comforting.

"And we brought you food! It's supposed to help with the nausea!" Hunk grinned, carrying over the tray and setting it up so it stood over her stomach and was stable enough that she could eat without any worries.

"Mom and Kosmo are on their way too, we're getting you the best resources we can to help you through this." Keith assured Pidge, sitting beside her on the bed.

Hunk had pulled up a chair and was sitting to her right, making sure she had everything she could need to eat her food. Lance and Shiro were grabbing their own breakfasts that they'd brought. Nothing crazy, just some scrambled eggs and bacon.

"Guys.." Pidge whined, tearing up.  
"I can't believe you did all this.."

She really couldn't, she'd acted like such a bitch to them the previous day and straight up told them that she didn't want them there. Yet, there her friends were, fussing over her and making sure she was okay.

"We'd do anything for you, Pidgey! We love you!" Lance cheered, putting a hand on her knee to further show his affection. He jolted when Pidge began to sob.

"Hey hey hey! It's okay!" Shiro yelped, quickly going to try and comfort her. They all tried to soothe Pidge as she cried, tears dripping down her face at an alarming rate.

They all did what they could to calm her down, Keith holding her close and telling her about how much he loved her and wanted to be with her which only made her cry harder.

They all began to panic, Hunk rushing to get something that he thought would cheer Pidge up while Lance began to make stupid jokes and Shiro tried to wipe away the tears before they dripped down onto her clothes.

“I’m sorry,” Pidge whimpered, sniffling as she tried to take a few deep breathes.  
“I-I don’t deserve this.. I don’t deserve you guys being so nice..”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Hunk smiled, setting the small plate of cookies he’d grabbed for her on the tray as well.  
“You deserve the universe, Pidge. You’re one of the reasons it’s still here..”

The others all nodded, pressing a bit closer to her and trying to reassure Pidge that it was alright.

“We’re here for you. No matter what you do.. James explained a bit to us after we harassed him for a while.. we.. we understand if you don’t want to keep the baby and all that.. we’ll support you no matter what.” Shiro murmured, a hand on her shoulder and a smile on his face.

“Thank you..” Pidge murmured, leaning against Keith as he wrapped his arm around her.

“It’s our pleasure, now, come on! Eat!” Lance laughed, pushing the tray closer to Pidge right as her stomach decided that it was time to growl loudly.

“Oh calm down,” Pidge scoffed, looking down at her belly.  
“You’re already making me sick, don’t complain when I eat.”

“Aw, you talk to them?” Hunk grinned, “can I feel your belly? Would you kill me?” 

Pidge laughed, shaking her head. Of course they’d think she’d kill them if they stepped out of line.

“No, I won’t kill you. Just let me eat a bit first, please.” Pidge smiled, to which Hunk and the others all nodded eagerly and gave Pidge the space to eat.

She happily began to eat the breakfast Hunk had made for her, the others all beginning to eat as well. It was nice, something she’d missed so much more than she knew. Pidge was beginning to think that she should’ve just told them the moment that she found out about the pregnancy.

Pidge could used to it being like that again, having them by her side and supporting her. Maybe if she had them having the baby wouldn’t be a bad choice. Maybe she wouldn’t have to make another difficult decision.

Pidge wanted her child after all, she wanted to make them a cute little nursery in her house that was still being built and spoil them rotten. She wanted to be the mom that always took too many pictures so she had plenty of memories to look back on. Hell, Pidge didn’t care if she had a man there to love and support her. She’d have her baby and that was all that she could’ve possibly wanted.

Her mind drifted to the half Galra beside her, the one who promised to stay with her, to be by her side and take care of her. The one she loved so much. Pidge wouldn’t be alone. She wouldn’t have to raise a baby on her own. 

She could do it.

Pidge could keep her child and have her perfect family that she wanted so badly.

Hunk was the first one to feel her belly as soon as she said it was okay, eyes wide as he carefully felt across the swollen skin.

“Hunk, you’re not even gonna feel anything!” Pidge laughed, He was being so careful, only his fingertips really touching her.

“Are they kicking yet?” Keith asked curiously, looking over Pidge’s shoulder at the interaction.

“No, not yet. Not for another few weeks.” Pidge smiled, leaning back into the pillows and Keith’s side.  
“Well, I mean, I’m technically 16 weeks in a few days so they could but it’s not super likely.”

“Will it be an actual kick? Like, the big ones?” Lance murmured, putting his hand on her belly next to Hunk’s.

“Not for a bit, it’s more just them wiggling and trying to get comfortable.” Pidge explained, giggling as Shiro was the next to put his hand on her bump.

They all seemed in absolute awe at the fact that something was growing inside of her, another living being that they all had already sworn to themselves to protect with their lives.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do with them..?” Keith asked nervously, biting his lip and tensing as Pidge took a deep breath.  
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I know it’s probably not what you want to be thin-“

“I’m keeping them.” Pidge said simply, putting her hand over Hunks and moving it to where you feel a bit of the baby’s body straining against her skin.

“Wait, really?!” Shiro explained, jumping up while Lance and Hunk both seemed more enthralled by the slight bit of the baby they could feel.

“Yes, really.” Pidge smiled, looking over at Keith. She was surprised to see the humongous grin on his face; all because the girl he was going to be with was going to have a baby that he’d get to help raise if she allowed him. 

Keith decided right then and there that no matter what, whether he and Pidge did actively pursue a relationship or even if they decided to just stay friends, he’d be there for her and that baby no matter what.

“Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?” Lance asked excitedly, “Have you thought of any names?!”

The Paladins were all buzzing with excitement now, Pidge included as she laughed.

“I haven’t thought of names and yes, Hunk, we’ll all go out to get baby stuff soon.” Pidge assured him, answering as many questions as she could within the short span of time she had before another was asked.

“And,” She smiles, looking down at her growing stomach.  
“I’m hoping for a girl.”


	4. Chapter Four.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was a fighter and dangerous, manipulative and not one to show up for no reason and the look in his eyes made them all nervous.

The boys all refused to let Pidge carry a single item into the apartment in the garrison she was staying in. Keith refuses to even let her carry her the small package bottles.

"Come on, guys! I'm pregnant! Not useless!" Pidge whined as she walked along with them down the halls. She felt useless, not able to assist her friends in them trying to assist her.

She was entering eight months along now. The boys had to eventually branch off and handle their work but they always came back within two days and Keith didn't leave her side at all.

"Nope. You're staying as relaxed as possible." Keith hummed, giving her a quick kiss before going to set down the box which contained the crib that needed to be assembled.

"Just a month left, Pidge! You heard what Doctor Montgomery said, bedrest as often as possible!" Shiro said firmly, nudging her into her room as they finally carried everything in.

Krolia and Kosmo were inside waiting, the wolf bounding over to Pidge and rubbing up against her with a happy bark.

"Hey buddy!" Pidge laughed, hugging the canine and giving him plenty of scratches. That dog was her last piece of sanity, everyone was treating her like she'd break at any moment but Kosmo didn't care. He still teleported her places when she asked and was all too happy to have cuddles and steal Keith's spot in the bed.

"How is Yorak doing?" Krolia hummed, giving Pidge a soft embrace and putting her hands on the smaller woman's belly. She was so insistent on Keith and Pidge naming the child Yorak, no matter the gender.

They'd gone to another checkup only a month ago, hoping to get the gender of the baby. All four of the men had been sitting close by, eyes wide with anticipation only to find out that no scan could be entirely sure thanks to it being a half Galra pregnancy.

Apparently, a baby who's not entirely human is a whole lot harder to scan and get an accurate reading of when you're using equipment made for full humans.

Nonetheless, they did the ultrasound and was fairly certain the baby was a girl. Much to Pidge's delight as that's what she'd been hoping for and now they could finally go out and pick out baby clothes and baby names.

"They're fine, a bit squirmy but y'know. That's to be expected." Pidge sighed, sitting down as soon as she could. Her feet ached. She wanted to be done with the pregnancy as soon as humanly possibly, in all honesty.

Kosmo snuggled close, doing his normal little sniff of her belly before licking it to greet the baby as well.

"Have you been having any contractions? Anything feeling off?" Krolia asked, looking Pidge over. The woman was about as protective as could be, especially since she heard about Pidge being with her son.

"No, I've got a few phantom contractions every so often but that's normal." Pidge murmured, tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear and out of her face.  
"Besides, I'm not going to go into labor anytime soon. I've still got a month."

Krolia sighed but nodded. She wanted to see the baby as much as anyone, only she was far more vocal about her impatience.

"You'll live mom, those four weeks are necessary." Keith chuckled, ruffling Pidge's hair affectionately.

However though, apparently her body didn't agree with those four weeks being necessary because only two days labor Pidge woke up to sharp, stabbing pain.

She sat up, holding her stomach and taking a few deep breathes. Pidge was in more pain than she felt she could handle but also more confused than ever. There was absolutely no way she could be in labor, she still had another four weeks before the baby was even due.

Pidge forced herself to think back to the previous day. She'd been uncomfortable and in pain, of course she had. Pidge just assumed that she was having a lot of phantom contractions since her body was trying to prepare her.

But this pain was something entirely different, where the previous day had been her body tensing and giving her a sensation similar to period cramps this felt as if she was being stabbed repeatedly while her muscles twisted themselves into knots.

She groaned, slowly pushing herself up and out of bed. Pidge chose the worst moment, because right as her feet made contact with the floor another wave of pain crashed into her. This one wasn't like the others, this one was worse. Instead of stabbing it began to feel like she was being ripping apart.

All Pidge could do was crumble to the floor, it hurt too much to not. This couldn't be happening. She still had time, Pidge was supposed to have an entire month to prepare for this. They didn't have anything ready, no bag ready, no plans on who was going to be there with her, no last name picked out, for the baby, nothing, absolutely nothing.

Hell, they were still deciding if they wanted to go to a hospital or stay at the Garrison because they were supposed to have more time, damnit.

Her mind was racing, worries overtaking her thoughts because all she wanted to do was get back in bed and have the pain stop. But Pidge knew that wasn't going to happen because her baby decided that it was time and she couldn't really argue with that.

The baby was having their way and Pidge certainly couldn't stop it, especially with the new wave of contractions that made her yell out in complete and utter pain.

Shiro and Lance were immediately rushing out of the guest room, Keith jumping out of bed and Hunk rushing over from his spot on the couch. They'd all insisted on staying with her in case of an emergency but Pidge quite frankly just wanted her boyfriend around because he was a living breathing heater.

"Holy shit, Pidge, babe, come on, talk to me. What's happening?" Keith asked frantically, holding her up as she gasped for breath.

"Fuck, hurts-" she choked out, clutching her stomach tightly. Pidge was definitely going into labor, no doubt about it and the boys were all beginning to panic as they came to the same conclusion.

"This can't be possible, you're supposed to have a month left!" Hunk exclaimed, eyes wide as he tried to keep Pidge steady when she yelled out from the pain of the next contraction again.

"Well, obviously it's possible!" Lance snapped, glaring at Hunk.

"Guys! Come on, pregnant woman going into labor here!" Shiro shouted, jolting the two out of their bickering.

Pidge would've been in the fetal position if Keith hadn't been holding onto her, the poor girl was almost hyperventilating and shouting every time a contraction hit.

"Breathe, Katie." Keith reminded her, panic and concern lacing his voice tightly. He was restraining himself from having on a death grip on her as he tried to ease his girlfriend through the pain.

She grit her teeth, trying desperately to do as she was told. Pidge just tried to focus on what the others were saying and hope to god they wouldn’t freak out. Luckily for her, Lance was taking control of the situation.

“Shiro, you need to go find one of the Garrison doctors, tell them what’s going on and to be ready. Hunk, you need to go get everything we’d need. Clothes, diapers, swaddling blankets, everything.” Lance said firmly, making sure they both understood their tasks before they ran off to do them. He then turned back to Pidge who was sobbing from the pain, holding onto Keith so tightly her knuckles were white.

“Okay, Keith, keep her calm. We can’t just leave her on the floor, we need to get her onto the bed.” Lance explained, “I’m going to lift her, got it?”

Keith nodded, whimpering at how Pidge cried out when Lance scooped her up.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry..” Lance murmured as he quickly set Pidge down on her bed. Kosmo immediately was at her side, trying to calm her with soft licks to her cheeks and nuzzles.

“Katie, love, are you alright? How are you feeling?” Keith asked frantically when her yelling stops. He’s clearly worried, that was the baby he intended to raise alongside Pidge after all and the woman he loved in indescribable pain. Unfortunately it was the baby that was causing the pain.

“Take a fucking guess!” Pidge snapped, both his and Lance’s hand in her death grip as she tried to keep her composure. The women who told her she’d be calm when she went into labor were liars. Pidge’s mother had even told her that her birth was easy and Pidge should expect the same. What a load of bullshit.

“Right, right, Shiro’s going to get help. It’s okay,” Keith smiled, running his free hand through her hair.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening. They were supposed to have time and have her as close to a doctor as possible a few days before her due date. Not be holding her hand while she went into labor in Pidge’s small apartment on the opposite end of the Garrison.

“Hey, Pidge, what name did you guys pick out? What did you decide to name your daughter?” Lance asked, hoping to distract her from the pain.

“Mercedes.” Pidge choked out, tears streaming down her face.  
“I’m naming her Mercedes Annalise Holt.” 

Keith made a face of mock offense.  
“Not Mercedes Kogane?” He pouted, pressing a kiss to Pidge’s temple playfully.

“You marry me and I’ll consider it,” Pidge groaned, grip on the men’s hands tightening as another contraction began.

Keith and Lance both chuckled, smiling at each other.

“I vote you two just skip the dating stage and get married, you’ve known each other for over ten years.” Lance hummed, clearly trying to distract Pidge.

“We’ll get married, Princess. I promise.” Keith assured her, pressing another kiss to her temple as he tried to comfort her.

Unfortunately, kisses and conversation could only do so much when an infant was quite literally trying to force itself out of Pidge’s body.

Hunk ran back in, a large bag overflowing with things for the birth and afterwards, it was definitely too much but Lance and Keith didn’t really have the energy to argue. Pidge certainly didn’t either.

“I don’t understand, why is it hurting her so much?! Her body was made to do this!” Hunk exclaimed, terrified of the situation presented to him.

“It’s not made to do it /comfortably/!” Pidge yelled, growling. Of course it was going to hurt, no matter if her body was made to do it or not. She was going to push a fucking human being out of her body. What part of that didn’t sound painful?

“Hey, hey, breathe, Pidge.” Lance yelped, hoping to redirect her attention because she seemed about ready to bite Hunk’s head off for that comment.

Shiro couldn’t have shown up with a group of doctors and nurses at a better time because Hunk just kept talking and Pidge just kept wanting to murder him in between the increasing pain.

“Okay, guys, they’ve got a gurney for her. We’ve got to take her down to the infirmary wing.” Shiro explained quickly as about ten medics flooded in.

Keith growled lowly as he was forced away from Pidge, Shiro grabbing onto his arm to keep him calm as they looked her over.

“They’re helping her. Keep it together.” Shiro snapped quietly, he was also concerned out of his mind. After explaining how early her labor was and seeing the panic on the doctors faces as they rushed to get everyone available, how couldn’t he be?

Pidge screamed when they moved her, another particularly painful contraction hitting at that moment and a wet feeling dripping down her legs.

“Her water broke, we need to hurry.” A doctor, Doctor Montgomery specifically, said quickly. Just like that, things started moving. Pidge was being rushed down the halls to the infirmary wing while the boys all struggled to keep up.

People were just starting their day, it was about seven AM and the sight of ten medics rushing down the halls with a gurney and four retired Paladins running after it those who witnessed it suddenly felt much more awake.

The news spread like wildfire and by the time Pidge got to the infirmary there was people gathered to see.

“Out of the way! Go!” Shiro snapped, going ahead to clear a path for the doctors to take Pidge.

However, not even the captain of the Atlas could deter the crowd and they decided very quickly to take Pidge to a private section of the ER portion of the infirmary so no one could interrupt.

“Okay; Katie, deep breathes.” Doctor Montgomery said reassuringly, taking Pidge’s arm to put in her IV.

“Is she going to be okay?!” Keith yelped, rushing to Pidge’s side as Hunk shut the door and he and Lance stood there to make sure no one got in.

“Katie will be perfectly fine, an early birth is common.” The doctor assured him.  
“Have you two discussed having an epidural?”

“No..” Keith murmured, “the baby isn’t fully human.. so..”

“So an epidural is out of question, got it.” Doctor Montgomery sighed. They weren’t taking chances, not with how early the baby was coming and the limited research on how the drugs could affect a Galran infant.

“Katie, scale of one to ten. How’s your pain?” A nurse asked, turning Pidge’s contractions to see how far along into her labor she was and if she would begin to be dilated.

“Ten- Holy shit, ten-“ Pidge choked out, gripping onto the rail of the bed she’d been transferred to like her life depended on it. Keith honestly didn’t know if he should give her his hand because it seriously looked like she would break it.

He did it anyways, they could fix his hand if Pidge broke it and holy shit, it felt like she was going to break it.

“We are never having sex, ever-“ Pidge snapped, trying to take deep breathes as she was instructed. Lance and Shiro both had to put their hands over their mouths to conceal their laughter at that, especially the hurt look on Keith’s face before he reminded himself that she was in pain and delusional.

They continued to try and soothe Pidge, in the middle of figuring out if they could do a vaginal birth or would need a C-section when a man burst into the room.

“Hey; you can’t be in here. You need to leave-“ Hunk began, trying to push the man out.

“Captain Shirogane, Officer Kogane, all of you; there’s a Galra here insisting he see you.” The man blurted out, breathing heavy.

“What?” Keith asked, brows furrowed. Had his mother sent for more blade members? She would’ve told him, Keith would’ve had a list of everyone and reports.

“It’s a Galra commander. He says he needs to see the Paladins and that’s it’s urgent.” The man continued.

Shiro, Lance and Hunk all frowned, looking to Keith for his call.

“Go,” Pidge hissed, reluctantly letting go of Keith’s hand, “all of you. Someone will come get you if something happens.”

Keith whimpered but nodded, giving her a firm and loving kiss before they left to follow the man.

“Don’t let anyone else in there!” Shiro yelled as they rushed off.

“Who’s arrived? What do they want?” Lance asked as they ran to the hangars. A Galra commander shouldn’t have been there, hell, people rarely left Daibazaal without Keith’s mother letting him know.

“It’s a commander, Brax, he called himself commander Brax. He said he needed to talk to you all. That was it.” The man explained, skidding to a stop at the hangar entrance.

Keith frowned at the name.

Commander Brax, the Galra who was once in Zarkon’s fleet and the Galra who had been causing him so much trouble and rebellion before he suddenly backed down.

What in the world was that man doing on Earth when he was ordered to stay on Daibazaal?

Keith and the others marched into the hangar, surprised to see a large Galran ship right outside. It wasn’t their updated ships either, it was the same design Zarkon used during the war.

It brought back horrible memories, horrible actions and feelings were attached to that ship and none of them trusted it for a moment.

Brax and a small fleet of Galra stood at the hangars end near the ship.

The Galra was a mountain of muscle, similar to Sendak’s height but far more powerful. Had Sendak not been given his prosthetic arm, Brax likely would’ve been Zarkon’s right hand.

He was a fighter and dangerous, manipulative and not one to show up for no reason and the look in his eyes made them all nervous.

“What are you doing here, Brax?!” Keith snapped, storming over. How dare he show up while his lover was in so much pain, when her child was about to born. How dare he tear him away from her.

“I’ve come to collect my offspring.” Brax smirked.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Keith hadn't even realized that he'd been attending every single coalition meeting he could, observing them all.

He could remember it easily, he'd planned it meticulously after all. Years of careful thought and observation had gone into it.

Brax wanted the power he had when he was in the empire back, he wasn't going to sit back and be disrespected by these so called leaders. He'd known that he needed to take drastic measures to get back to his old position of power, to have an influence, and after countless attempts to regain that power himself he realized that if he wasn't bound to one of the Paladins in some way then he never would.

Shiro and Keith hadn't even realized that he'd been attending every single coalition meeting he could, observing them all.

Brax has realized quickly that his ties to the emperor put him at a disadvantage, Keith would never trust him the way he trusted blade members and Brax refused to join that disgusting disgrace of a group. The chef, Hunk wouldn't get him to the position he needed, but could be a good stepping stone. Brax would've preferred the captain, their old leader, Shiro. But the man was so intent on keeping the peace and traumatized by his time with the Galra that he wouldn't hesitate to resort to violence if needed.

That left the little one, the small green Paladin. Brax had looked her over at first, she was merely a kit when he'd last seen her and assumed she was far too weak to achieve his goal.

Not until she attended a coalition meeting. Brax was surprised to see her, she wasn't a kit anymore, that was for sure. The little human had grown into a woman, though not in height. He listened intently to her, smiling when he realized she would be the one willing to negotiate peace and make compromises if needed. 

And when he heard her age, he was very, very surprised. She was older than he thought and at the age when Galran women would be looking to bear their own kits, yet she had no claim mark on her, no scent of a mate, she didn't even appear to be considering procreating due to teaching human kits in her day to day life.

He knew right then and there that she would be the one. Brax would get her and use her for the power he needed. All he had to do was cause a bit of destruction.

And he did, and he did enough that when he arrived on Earth the Garrison pointed their weapons at him, registering him as a threat. Brax already knew he had what he wanted when Pidge strode out of the building, head held high and face set in determination to solve this.

He'd laid out what he wanted plain and simple, for her to consider his tactics in defending the universe and grant him some influence. That, and he wanted a union with her. The look on her face had almost made him laugh.

"You came all this way to talk and have /sex/?!" Pidge had snapped, glaring at Brax.

"If you refuse I can go back to my previous tactics. I understand either way." He hummed, eyes gleaming. Brax knee she wouldn't refuse, she was too determined to keep the peace and avoid another fight.

Pidge had run her hands over her face, groaning.

"This better be the best sex I've ever had in my life."

He remembered how she'd let him tug her into his ship, how she'd let him pick her up and kiss her roughly. How she'd let him rip into her clothes when he practically tossed her into his quarters and onto his bed.

With him towering over her he'd finally gotten a decent look at how small she was and he immediately sent out an order for a painkiller, explaining to her that it would make things easier.

He remembered how she reacted every time he touched her, she was more sensitive than he thought but he couldn't force himself to keep his hands off of her pale skin.

She was so complacent after she took the drug, only able to make the sweet noises that he drank up or cry out for more or less or whatever else she craved. He was happy to give it to her. The only movement she made was when she tugged on his hair and arched her back. 

He'd had her on his lap, her resting against his chest when it finally came to an end. He let her sit there, breathing heavy and almost choking on the tears streaming down her face.

"Rest, little one." He'd said softly, placing her onto the bed and going to get whatever he needed to clean her up.

Brax has decided right then and there that he would keep her. He'd leave someone on Earth to inform him of all the advancement in her pregnancy and when she had their kit, he'd be there to take her and their child to a place he could provide for them. 

Brax knew that he'd have to treat her right if he wanted his power, she'd have to care for him, value him and make the others value him as well.

He'd cleaned the small Paladin up, her eyes closed and half asleep at this point. Brax knew that she wouldn't be able to feel much for a while so he took his time in making sure any trace of him attempting to impregnate her was gone before sliding back into bed with her.

He'd pulled her close, letting her chest on his chest and nuzzle into his short fur as he ran a hand down her back. There were claw marks coating her sides and would likely take time to heal, but he couldn't be concerned about that. Brax knew she wouldn't hold it against him.

All he could hope for was that she wouldn't fight when he went back to earth to take her and the kit, his hopes did come true, Pidge wasn't the one fighting.

It was the others

Keith's blood bad went cold, he couldn't even seem to process it.

"Your offspring?" He asked, hands clenched into fists. Brax couldn't be the one. He just couldn't. Keith wouldn't allow it.

"The green Paladin, she bears my offspring." Brax said simply, he had a smug grin on his face. He was clearly proud of the fact that he'd knocked her up.

"How?! You haven't been to earth!" Keith shouted, he could feel his Galra traits coming to light. His eyes would have to be a deep gold by now, pupils dilated into near

"Nonsense. I came to earth less and a decapheobe ago. To offer the little one a peace treaty." Brax grinned, his oversized fangs made Lance's skin crawl and when he looked at the people standing beside the man he recognized one of them.

A small Galra halfbreed who looked more like Ezor than a true Galra. They worked in the medical wing. They'd been taking Pidge's reports on her pregnancy and they'd been reporting to Brax all along.

Shiro was the first to get hostile. He practically ripped his pistol out of its holster on his hip and pointed it directly at Brax's forehead

"It was you. You're the one who did it to her." Shiro growled, "you're the one who hurt her! You drugged her!"

"The little one agreed to my terms, a union for peace." Brax said smugly. "She quite enjoyed it too, she enjoys rough treatment."

"Shut your fucking mouth!" Lance shouted, grabbing a rifle from the small weapon closet that they had and pointing it at Brax.

"I'm not here for a fight. Simply to see the little one and my kit." Brax sighed, already tired of the situation. Why did the other humans and the halfbreed have to be there? This was a such a simple thing, he was the father of the child afterall.

"You don't even know her name. You stay away." Hunk snapped, his glare was easily the sharpest of them all. He was furious, that was easy to see.

"Her name is Katie; but she doesn't like to be called that. Little one works perfectly fine, she is, well, little." Brax shrugged.

"You're not going anywhere near her or that baby." Keith snarled, baring his fangs at the larger Galra.   
"That's not your child either, you gave up that right when you drugged her."

Brax huffed, walking over to Keith and leaning down a bit.

"Stop." Shiro said firmly, the safety of his pistol clicking off and Lance allows the rifle to click a bullet into the chamber.

"Would you have rather I ripped her apart? Had her scream and cry while I tried to give her pleasure? Remember, halfbreed. She wanted it, she wanted that drug. Everything was consensual, a simple mistake was made. A failure of contraception. Nothing wrong was done." Brax purred, his voice deep and threatening. It was a challenge for them to continue on with their hostility, because technically, he was right.

Pidge had wanted to take the drug, she'd seen the size difference between them in all aspects, height wise and intimate and was not keen on feeling that pain. Pidge had agreed to the sex, she'd said yes and willingly went with him and let him have her body. Pidge had also told him she was on birth control, she didn't know it wouldn't work with Galra sperm and they couldn't prove that Brax knew either.

Keith growled, shouting out loudly from frustration and pacing for a few moments before whirling back to face Brax.

“You stay where people can see you, a guard will be with you at all times and your fleet stays in your ship. You don’t go near Katie, not unless she gives permission. Understand?!” Keith snapped.

“I understand.” Brax smiled, fangs showing with the way his lip curled upwards.

Lance and Hunk both felt sick, looking to Shiro for what to do. They couldn’t possibly let Brax into the Garrison, couldn’t possibly let Brax near Pidge or the child.

“Keith, go to Pidge. We’ll keep an eye on him.” Shiro growled, keeping his gun pointed at the large Galra.

Keith nodded, quickly rushing to go see her. His mind was racing, Brax had been the one all along, Keith had been investing the Galra on Earth but he’d never been on Earth for long. Just for long enough to knock Keith’s girlfriend up.

Keith skidded into the infirmary where Pidge was. She was in a hospital gown at his point, the doctors all rushing around. He was quick to go to her side, grabbing onto her hand and coating her face in kisses while he assured her that he was there and wasn’t leaving.

“Okay, Katie, it’s almost done. You’ve only got another few centimeters to dilate.” Doctor Montgomery smiled, “soon you’re going to be holding your little baby girl.”

“You hear that, love? It’s almost over. Soon you’ll be holding Mercedes.” Keith murmured, letting Pidge grip his hand as tightly as she needed. He wasn’t going to tell her about Brax, not now. Pidge was already handling enough.

“Fuck, it hurts- I don’t think I can do this-“ Pidge choked out, tears streaming down her face.

“Yes, you can.” Keith insisted, cupping her face in his hands.  
“I know can do it. I know it’s scary, hell, I’m terrified. But you’re the strongest person I know, you’re going to do perfectly fine.”

“Just another centimeter.” Doctor Montgomery called out.  
“Katie, when I tell you to, push.”

“I can’t do this, Keith, I can’t do it,” Pidge sobbed, holding onto his hand tightly. It hurt so badly and she hadn’t even begun to give birth, it was so much and Pidge didn’t think she could handle it.

“Yes, you can.” Keith repeated, “Katie, it’s so close to being done, it’s just a bit longer.”

“Almost there!” Doctor Montgomery called.

“Keith, I can’t,“ Pidge whimpered, nails digging into his skin.

“Breathe, Katie.” Keith frowned, “it’s almost time.”

“I can’t, I can’t, I can’t-“ Pidge insisted, shaking her head. She was terrified, she was about to bring a baby into the world a month early. No one had ever had a halfbreed in a hospital and Krolia had said that Keith was born right on his estimated due date, not late, not early. Right on time. No one even knew if the baby would be alright.

“Katie,” Keith said firmly, “look at me.”

She whimpered, eyes opening and looking up at Keith just as the doctor gave her the okay.

“Take a deep breath, and push.” Keith instructed, clearly not about to take that Pidge couldn’t as an answer.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oh, I know that you knew." Pidge spat, "I know that you had someone here keeping track of me, I know that you getting me pregnant wasn't a fucking mistake."

Pidge felt as if she was being ripped in two. She held onto Keith's hand like a vice as she pushed, unaware of the fact that she was nearly screaming from the pain.

Childbirth would be easy, her mother had said.

It won't be terrible, her mother had said.

Pidge was going to punch her mom, damnit, because that shit hurt more than the one time she'd gotten stabbed between the ribs on a mission.

"You've got it, you're doing so good, baby," Keith assured her, running a hand through her hair.  
"It's almost over,"

Matt came rushing in around that point, bolting straight to his sister.

"Hey, Pidge, I'm here." he smiled, tears in his eyes as he held onto Pidge's other hand.

It hurt him to watch his sister be in so much pain, even if it meant bringing his niece into the world.

"Just in time," Keith smiled, looking up at Matt.  
"Just a few more pushes and then we've got a baby."

Matt laughed, nodding. They were both absolutely ecstatic despite the situation going on in the hangar. The two had discussed it a while ago in private, Pidge and Keith had decided Keith was going to be the father of that baby, biological or not and Matt was in full support. In fact, he was even more excited now that he knew Keith would be the dad.

Matt was also especially grateful now that Brax had shown up. He didn't know the full story, but he knew that the supposed father of the baby was there.

Matt had decided the moment someone told him that the supposed father was there that he wasn't getting anywhere near his sister. Not if he and Keith were still alive. Not of he could help it, not after what that man did.

The two let Pidge hold onto them as she screamed and cried, but not even twenty minutes later she wasn't the one screaming and crying.

It was a baby, a small screaming and crying baby. Keith's eyes were wide as he watched them cut the umbilical cord and then get to work on cleaning them off.

"It's a girl." Doctor Montgomery smiled, wiping off the small infants head before setting her down on Pidge's chest.

"Hi sweetie.." Pidge laughed, tears still dripping down her face as she kissed the baby's forehead.  
"Oh, I've been waiting for you.."

"Welcome to the world, Mercedes.." Keith murmured, running his hand through Pidge's hair.

Pidge couldn't help but sob, holding her daughter close and rocking her. She'd waited so long for that bundle of absolute joy. And to think, Pidge had been considering giving her away.

Pidge could never, not now that she had her in her arms. Not when the moment her baby had made contact with her the crying and screaming had immediately stopped and turned into a soft purr.

Mercedes looked a bit Galra, her hair was dark purple like her biological fathers fur and the blush that coated her face from the effort of screaming was a light purple tint.

Pidge could only assume that when Mercedes began to grow teeth she'd have fangs as well, but that didn't matter. Pidge didn't care. She was just happy that she had her baby.

She laid back, holding her child close as she let Mercedes begin to breast feed. The poor little girl was hungry and starting to whine.

"You did so good," Keith smiled,  pressing a kiss to Pidge's forehead and mumbling more compliments and sweet words.

She'd did it, Pidge had a baby, she'd managed to carry a baby for almost nine fucking months and then push it out of her which was completely insane.

Pidge held the baby close, closing her eyes with a soft sigh. She was overjoyed and exhausted.

Mercedes looked up at the two men beside her mother, eyes a bright gold that made Keith want to growl.

She looked too much like her father.

Too much like Brax.

Too much like that damn sick bastard.

Too much like the man Lance, Hunk and Shiro was trying to distract in the hangar.

"So, you're the guy." Lance huffed, holding only his rifle tightly.  
"Why the fuck would you do that to her?"

"Excuse me?" Brax asked, looking over at Lance.

"Why the fuck would you get her pregnant?" Lance spat, glaring at the large Galra and growling.

"It wasn't intentional." Brax smiled, lying straight through his teeth.  
"It was an accident, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited."

"What the hell do you want from her?" Shiro snapped, he knew that Brax was hiding something, there was no way he just figured that Pidge wouldn't get pregnant.

"To care for her and our kit." Brax hummed, "I want to make sure she's alright and care for her however I can. I've been too busy to be here for her during the pregnancy, but I'm here now."

"What makes you think she wants you here?" Hunk growled, all three of the men incredibly hostile.

How could they not?

Brax had drugged their friend and knocked her up, abandoned her for the entirety of her pregnancy then suddenly show up as she was going into labor claiming he wanted to help.

Yeah.

They all called bullshit.

No way in hell was Brax being honest.

"Katie, honey, wait-" Keith stammered as Pidge stalked into the hangar, her boyfriend helping her put a robe over her hospital gown as she held onto Mercedes.

Someone had let it slip that Brax was there and the moment Pidge could feel her legs and Mercedes was done eating she was moving.

"Little one," Brax smiled, getting up and rushing over to her.

"Stop!" Pidge snapped, watching as Brax skidded to a stop about a yard away from her.  
"Down!"

The Galra dropped to his knees, obedient as a dog as he stared at Pidge with wide eyes. His gaze flickered between the young woman and the infant, not even an hour old clinging to her mother while blood dripped down Pidge's legs.

"What are you doing here?" Pidge hissed, eyes sharp despite how her body was trembling and Keith had to hold her up.

"I came to see you," Brax smiled, reaching out to take her hand. He seemed happy to see her, excited even.

"I don't want to see you." Pidge growled, holding Mercedes a bit closer.  
"I don't even want you on this planet."

"Katie, love, please," Brax frowned, "I'm sorry, I should've been here for you. I should've told you that I knew."

"Oh, I know that you knew." Pidge spat, "I know that you had someone here keeping track of me, I know that you getting me pregnant wasn't a fucking mistake."

Brax paled, eyes widening.

"No, little one, it was an accident, you know that-" he insisted, stammering over his words. Brax refuses to so much as consider that she'd known the entire time.

"Pidge, please, you need to lay down," Keith frowned, looking at the pool of blood developing at her feet and how pale she was.

"Little one, you're hurt," Brax said softly.  
"Give me the kit, you go rest."

Him saying that seemed to relight the anger and rage within Pidge, eyes flickering with a flame that only a mother could have.

"You will not come anywhere near my daughter!" Pidge snapped, taking a few steps back. She left bloody footprints and at the noise Mercedes began to cry.

Keith frowned, Pidge was struggling to stay upright and soothe her baby so he simply scooped her up.

He quickly turned and rushed out, he needed to get Pidge back to the infirmary.

As soon as Pidge and Keith were gone the other three Paladins turned on Brax, the sound of three guns powering up humming throughout the hangar.

“An accident, huh?” Lance growled.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Katie!" He chuckled, "Come on! I can't just be her dad?"
> 
> "If you behave you can be," Pidge grinned, pressing a kiss to Mercedes forehead.

Pidge held onto Mercedes tightly as she laid down yet again after getting the ripping between her legs stitched up, softly cooing and smiling at the child as Pidge shifted her hospital gown so the baby could latch on and begin to eat again.

"Alright, sweetie," Pidge hummed, "Listen close. That-"

She pointed at Keith.

"-is daddy."

Keith rolled his eyes, smiling happily as he pressed a kiss to Pidge's cheek. He was overjoyed on the inside, Keith had been so worried that Pidge wouldn't want him to take over as Mercedes father but he clearly didn't need to. Pidge had just outright confirmed that she wanted him.

"And Daddy loves you dearly and loves Mommy and never will he ever not be there for you or Mommy." Pidge continued, gently thumbing over her daughters cheek.  
"Never, ever, let anyone tell you that he isn't your Daddy. Except for Mommy. Mommy gets to decide who's Daddy." 

Keith snorted, clamping a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing.

"Katie!" He chuckled, "Come on! I can't just be her dad?"

"If you behave you can be," Pidge grinned, pressing a kiss to Mercedes forehead.

"You're ridiculous, you're 27, a mother and you still act like a child." Keith teased, coating Pidge's face in kisses before giving their daughter a few as well.

Mercedes squeaked, looking up at Keith with wide purple eyes that had hints of gold within them.

She'd have no problem looking like Keith's biological daughter, she had his dark hair and purple eyes as well as his and her mothers pale skin and they could blame any Galra signs on his Galra genetics.

She wouldn't ever have to know about Brax, hell, they could kill him or lock him up or banish him and Pidge wouldn't ever have to hear that mans name again.

Keith was still furious with Brax for what he did, he'd already sent a message to Kolivan and his mother about the situation and what the man had done so Keith could only assume that Blade forces would be arriving by the end of the day.

Kolivan and Krolia loved Pidge to death, the moment they'd met her they were both in love so Keith had no doubt that they'd rip Brax to shreds for what he'd done and then fuss over the baby and Pidge.

Keith chuckled as he remembered how Pidge had stolen every single blade members heart, how they all fussed over her at first and insisted that she not fight because she was so small only to be amazed by her skill and strength.

When she'd come to visit them for a short period of time and stayed to help repair some ships and tech Kolivan stuck to her like a little puppy, making sure she had everything that she needed and that no blade member with ill intentions got near her and that her room was luxurious and well guarded.

Keith wondered if she'd ever want to go back to Daibazaal, live there with her child under the protection of the Blade of Marmora and Galran government.

Pidge deserved a break afterall, to settle down and live a nice domestic life like the rest of them, not spend all day everyday focusing on making sure another intergalactic war never happened. Not spend all her time being reminded of the past when she should've been looking towards her future since the very beginning.

“Do you want to hold her?” Pidge asked, snapping Keith out of his thoughts.

“/he/ gets to be the first one to hold her?” Matt gasped from his seat, faking offense.  
“Not your wonderful big brother who was there for you since we found out you were pregnant?”

“Let the damn father hold his baby,” Pidge smiled, looking over at Keith for his answer only to find him staring at the baby with tears running down his face.

“Holy shit, Keith, babe, it’s okay if you don’t want to, you don’t ha-“ Pidge began, stammering over her words quickly to try and assure him that he was by no means obligated to hold Mercedes.

“I’d love to, please,” Keith breathed, looking up at Pidge with a grin. He was absolutely overwhelmed by happiness, overwhelmed with joy at the mere thought of holding the baby.

Pidge smiled, sighing in relief. Once Mercedes was done eating and burped she was handed to Keith.

“Cradle her head, good.. made sure she won’t slip,” Pidge murmured, adjusting her baby daughter a few times before backing off so Keith could hold her all on his own.

If Keith was crying before he had a damn waterfall going down his face now, tears dripping onto the blanket Mercedes was swaddled in as he laughed and held her close.

“Hi, baby..” he whispered, “I’ve been so excited to meet you.. I’m gonna be here for you and Mommy no matter what.. I promise..”

Matt and Pidge both melted, smiling like the love struck idiots they were at the mention of how their new family would look out for each other. Matt ruffled Pidge’s hair, pressing a kiss to her forehead and sending someone to get her some food while she could eat without a baby in her arms.

“You should eat and then get some sleep,” Matt murmured, “you went through one hell of a birth and you’ve got one hell of a headache out there waiting for you.”

“The boys will handle him,” Pidge yawned, “he’s not getting anywhere near us unless I give permission.”

Matt sighed, smiling.  
“I’d argue with you but I know you’re right, those three would murder for you.”

“Those /four/!” Keith corrected, seeming offended that he got left out of Pidge’s unofficial bodyguard group.

Matt rolled his eyes, sitting back down as someone rushed back with a tray full of food for Pidge.

Hunk had curated an entire post pregnancy diet for Pidge up until nearly a year after giving birth and he’d instructed the chefs to begin her meals as soon as the word of her going into labor got around.

So, Pidge had as much food as she could possibly need at her disposal freshly made just for her.

His research had been meticulous as well, so Pidge’s new diet would consist of high protein, healthy foods. Mostly lean meat, fish and low fat dairy products.

Such as her post labor breakfast, which was salmon, cheesy hash browns, scrambled eggs and blueberries with a glass of milk and a huge jug of water for her.

“Holy shit,” Matt said as Pidge was given her food.  
“He wasn’t kidding when he said you’d still feel like you’re eating for two.”

Along with her food was a card with sweet messages from them all written in it and gifts for the baby.

Pidge smiled as she heard gunshots from the hangar and yell from what had to be a Galran man.

“They’re too sweet,” Pidge hummed, beginning to eat her breakfast.

The boys in the meantime were having a damn field day, Brax cornered with the threat of getting shot if he didn’t answer their questions or do what he was told.

Brax had tried to get out of his trap yet again which resulted in a shot from Hunk that nicked his ear and took out a chunk.

“Nice shot!” Lance laughed, clapping for his friend, “your aim is getting way better, bud!”

“Could’ve aimed to the right a bit more, gotten some more off of him.” Shiro grinned, nudging Hunk.

They hadn’t ever enjoyed torture when they were actively at war but damn did they enjoy threatening a man who hurt their Pidge.

“Alright, one more time! What do you want with Pidge?” Lance snapped, demeanor going from playful and proud to angry and dark within a moments notice.

“I want to help her with our kit!” Brax growled, fur bristling.

That earned him another shot, right above his head.

“/her/ daughter.” Shiro corrected firmly, dead set on making sure that man knew that Mercedes was by no means his child. Even if he’d helped create her.

“That kit has /my/ blood in her veins! She is /my/ ki-“ Brax was cut off by another shot, this time from Lance, grazing the Galra’s other ear and taking off a matching chunk of the skin.

“You’re so lucky you have cat years or else you’d be bleeding a whole lot more!” Lance grinned, watching as a droplet fell onto his armor dark gray armor.

“Let’s make this /very/ clear,” Hunk growled, “that child is not yours and you’ll stay far, far away from her. You won’t go near Pidge unless she gives the okay and you won’t come to earth again.”

“Piss off, vermin.” Brax hissed, ears flattening back in anger.

They all frowned as the sound of another ship entering the atmosphere and coming towards the hangar reached them.

“Who did you call?” Shiro snapped, immediately aiming his pistol right at Brax’s head.

They’d taken all of his crew into custody, each stripped of their weapons and armor and placed in holding cells until their intentions were known.

“No one.” Brax huffed, fur bristling as he bared his teeth at the captain of the Atlas and the other two former Paladins.

Lance looked back as a Galra ship landed, eyes narrowing. They weren’t expecting anyone else from Daibazaal from what they knew, Keith would’ve told them if someone else was coming so they could know and be ready.

“Who did you call?!” Shiro shouted, “Who did you send here?!”

“No one! I only brought my crew! I’m not here to fight! I’m here to see Katie and my kit!” Brax yelled, body tending up.

“She is /not/ your kit!” Hunk and Shiro both snapped in unison, eyes flickering with anger at the idiots constant insisting that the child had any relation to him when he’d given up that right the moment he purposefully got Pidge pregnant.

Lance pulled his rifle up, ready to fire at whoever walked out of the ship as it landed.

They didn’t need anyone else there causing trouble, Pidge was likely already in pain from her birth and already angry and frustrated about Brax being there in the first place.

Not to mention that those three had their hands full, they weren’t taking Brax inside and didn’t trust anyone else with him. They’d rather be safe and make sure Pidge was okay then end up regretting it because they all were careless due to their want to see their niece.

The ship landed near the hangar, powering down as the door opened up.

Two people walked out, tall and muscular and Lance sighed with relief when he recognized them.

It was Krolia and Kolivan, both looking just as furious as the Paladins when they saw Brax.

Krolia didn’t say anything, her blade just transforming into a sword while Kolivan growled, fangs on full display while his fur bristled.

“Is that him?” Kolivan asked, flexing his hands as his claws slid out at his fingertips.

“You get.” Shiro grinned, expression smug as he gestured towards Brax.  
“We present to you the asshole who purposefully drugged and impregnated Katie Holt and then abandoned her throughout her entire pregnancy.”

“I see,” Krolia murmured, stepping forward only to throw her blade at the Galran general.

The sword stabbed right into the wall beside his throat, luxalite piercing through steel like butter.

“Oh, you are so fucked!” Lance laughed.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m just that talented,” Keith said smugly, setting Mercedes down on the swaddling blanket and wrapping her up in it.

Lance, Hunk and Shiro almost cheered as an entire brigade of Blade soldiers filed out of the ship, Ezor, Acxa and Zethrid at the front.

"Oh hell yes!" Lance cheered, "you are so fucked, you purple bitch!"

"We can take it from here," Zethrid smiled, pulling her blade from its sheath.   
"You all have a baby to meet."

Krolia sighed, glaring at Brax one more time. It likely wouldn't be the last glare she gave him.

"You tell us if he does anything remotely suspicious," Kolivan said firmly, waiting for Shiro, Lance and Hunk to all tuck their weapons away or at the very least put the safety on before they head out to find Pidge and the baby.

Pidge was laying on her side when they burst in, practically tripping over each other as they each tried to get in first.

Keith chuckled at the sight, gently rubbing Pidge's back as he tried to coax her to get some sleep while Matt held Mercedes.

The Paladins all immediately were at Matt's side, looking at Mercedes and cooing and trying to get her attention.

Kolivan went to Pidge's side, running a hand through her hair and smiling at her.

"How are you feeling, lioness?" He hummed, using his usual nickname for Pidge.

"Like I just fought an entire army on my own with a hand tied behind my back," Pidge giggled, leaning into Kolivan's touch.

He smiled, pulling the blanket up a bit further over her and adjusting her pillow.

"You have done something far greater than fight an army, you have brought a life into this universe, and that is the greatest thing anyone could do." Kolivan murmured, tone soft and proud.  
"You have done something incredible, lioness. You need rest."

Pidge smiled, blushing a bit as she nodded and snuggled further into the bed.

"Stop stealing my thunder." Keith grinned, pushing Kolivan playfully.

"Stop being underwhelming." Kolivan shot back, a smug grin on his face when Pidge laughed.

"Get some sleep," Krolia smiled, looking over at the small girl.  
"We'll take care of the kit."

"Thank you.." Pidge murmured, finally closing her eyes and falling asleep within minutes.

They all sighed, happy that she was going to get some rest. Lord knows she needed it. Pidge has ended up having a nearly four hour birth which for someone as small as she was and considering that her baby was half Galra was incredibly fast.

They'd expected her to be in there for much longer than four hours but absolutely no one was complaining. She and her daughter were healthy and going to be okay, Brax was under form watch and wasn't going to get anywhere near them that was all that mattered.

They each smiled down at Mercedes, trying to see who could get her attention first as she looked around at all them.

She was the cutest little thing, none of them could believe that the cutest baby on Earth had come from that complete and utter prick of a man.

Speaking of which.

"Does anyone know what in the world Brax's motivation for all of this could've been..?" Shiro asked, frowning.  
"I know he said that they had sex because it was part of a peace treaty that he offered her but that still leaves a lot out.."

"Pidge said that he got her pregnant on purpose and yeah, Brax said that's just her being angry about it but I'm fairly certain that she's right." Hunk sighed, taking the baby from Matt and gently rocking her.

"Maybe he actually just thought Pidge was pretty and wanted to fuck, I mean, I'd tap that a-" Lance began but stopped his sentence when he saw the glare coming from Keith and Kolivan towards him.

Okay, maybe saying he'd be willing to fuck Pidge in front of three overprotective Galra who were all already ramped up wasn't a smart idea.

"He did it to try and get leverage." Krolia said bluntly.  
"Brax was well respected during the war, now he's merely a citizen of Daibazaal, he wants his power back."

"He probably thought that if he got Pidge pregnant she would become his mate, that is how it usually happens with Galra.. he likely assumed that it works the same way with human." Kolivan frowned, looking back at Pidge.  
"From how you all are saying he acted, he was definitely surprised that she rejected him and doesn't want him near the kit."

"So.. a power trap?" Matt asked, "using my sister to try and become more important?"

"Precisely. He was causing issues, Pidge was sure to have heard warnings about him and when he offered a peace treaty.. she took it. Pidge is willing to do whatever it takes to prevent another war." Krolia sighed, she knew far too well that the small girl was heavily devoted to keeping the universe safe and preventing another unneeded sacrifice from someone she loved.

"Pidge, you damn idiot." Hunk huffed, bouncing Mercedes a bit to try and get her to go to sleep. He was already completely and utterly in love with his niece.

"Hey!" Lance snapped, "don't act like you wouldn't have done the same! We all have to admit Pidge probably took fighting in a war the hardest, for Christ's sake, she was fifteen! She was just a kid! We all know that Pidge would do anything to keep other kids from getting involved in another war!"

Shiro, Keith, Matt and Hunk both sighed, nodding their heads in agreement. Pidge would definitely do whatever it took, but so would they. If they'd been in Pidge's position they absolutely would've done the same thing.

"Okay, so, we can all agree that this was planned?" Keith asked, looking around at everyone.

"Definitely." Matt frowned, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms.  
"None of us even knew what Pidge did for this peace treaty, she refused to talk about it and none of us saw her come out of the ship. She just sorta.. showed up back in her apartment."

"Brax must've had someone he had in the Garrison put her back in her home." Krolia murmured.  
"He had to have had this all set up, in no world would it have gone as smoothly as it did without him having people in the Garrison."

"Pidge probably figured out that he did it on purpose pretty quickly, that must be why she insisted on not talking about it. She didn't want to give Brax what he wanted." Shiro said, him and Lance trying to figure out a way that he could hold the baby with his singular full arm.

Everyone nodded in agreement, jumping when Mercedes began to cry. Everyone looked at each other, having a mutual 'oh shit' moment.

"What do we do?!" Hunk asked, already beginning to panic as the baby in his arms wailed loudly, big fat tears rolling down her face.

"Well for one, calm down," Lance huffed, walking over to Hunk and holding out his arms.  
"Give me the baby."

"What? No!" Hunk hissed, seeming overwhelmingly offended that Lance had demanded the infant.  
"What are you going to do different?"

"I'm well versed in children and calming them," Lance said proudly, smirking when Hunk handed over Mercedes.

The former Paladin bounced the baby gently, letting her rest against his chest and shoulder.

To be fair, Mercedes did seem to calm for a moment before she began to squirm wildly, pushing against her swaddling blanket and her crying resumed.

“My turn.” Shiro huffed, sitting down and adjusting a pillow in his lap so his prosthetic could support her head and neck while his human hand kept her stable and close.

Lance whimpered with broken pride as he handed the baby over, helping adjust her before backing off.

Shiro smiled, making a few funny faces down at Mercedes to try and occupy her attention and distract her from whatever was upsetting her.

“Can’t we just wake Pidge up? She’d know what to do.. right?” Keith asked, moving to shake his girlfriend but the boys all glared at him.

“We can handle this! We’re not bad uncles, besides, we gotta be able to do this so we can let Pidge rest more often.” Matt said firmly, crossing his arms. He was determined to handle this along with the three other uncles. They refused to be failures at something as simple as soothing an infant.

Keith shrugged, taking a few steps back and leaning against the wall next to his mother and Kolivan. All three of them watched, clearly not having a lot of faith in the four humans.

Mercedes looked up at her four uncles, all trying to distract her. She whimpered, crying and squirming turning into screaming, crying and squirming.

She was loud, her wailing and screaming high pitched and something that Keith would consider an actual form of torture.

“Oh, no no no!” Lance whimpered, “come on, baby! You’re okay!”

Krolia sighs, walking over and carefully scooping up the halfbreed infant. She carries Mercedes over to a changing table, carefully unwrapping the swaddling blanket and grabbing a clean diaper to change her into.

Once she was changed and put in a clean onesie Kolivan took her, throwing a towel over his shoulder as he held her there and gently patted her back. It didn’t take very long before she spit up, the sick likely making her stomach hurt.

Keith grabbed a wash cloth, wiping his daughters face clean before pressing a kiss to her forehead as he took the baby so Kolivan could make sure he didn’t have any spit up on him.

The new Blade leader hummed a soft lullaby to her as he rocked her, waiting until Mercedes eyes began to close and her tears stopped.

“How did you..?” Lance asked, Keith agape at the sight of the three Galra working together like a well oiled machine.

“I’m a mother.” Krolia said simply, grabbing a clean swaddling blanket

“Common sense, Matt took the kit before Pidge could burp her.” Kolivan shrugged, checking Pidge to make sure she hadn’t woken up during the commotion.

“I’m just that talented,” Keith said smugly, setting Mercedes down on the swaddling blanket and wrapping her up in it.

“Galra genetics just make you better at handling kids I guess.” He purred, grabbing a pillow in a similar shape to a nest so Mercedes could lay in bed next to her mother without them having to worry about her neck or anything.

“Not fair,” Hunk pouted, crossing his arms. He was clearly upset that he hadn’t been able to soothe the child, he wanted to make her happy so badly.

“Suck it up.” Krolia smiled, making sure that the pillow was close enough to Pidge before Keith lowered Mercedes into it.

They all melted a bit at how Mercedes immediately snuggled closer to her mother, seeming to sense that she was close.

Keith carefully took one of Pidge’s hands, putting it on Mercedes belly so they would have some contact with each other.

“She’s gonna be such a good mom,” Lance sighed, smiling at the sight.  
“I’m so excited to see them together when they’re both awake!”

Keith smiled, nodding.

“I’m gonna marry her as soon as this is over.” He added proudly, determination lacing his voice.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Mercedes..." he murmured, at the very least content to know the name of his kit.

Seeing Pidge sleeping next to her baby was an otherworldly sight. They were both so relaxed, so happy to be close to each other. Even when they were unconscious.

Krolia and Kolivan kept checking on her and Mercedes, making sure they were both breathing properly and comfortable.

Keith had tried to calm his mother multiple times and assure her that they were both perfectly fine, but Krolia seemed to be just waiting for something to happen. Pidge was so small afterall, and she'd had her baby so prematurely.

Mercedes was small as well, especially considering that her birth father was humongous, even for a Galra.  
She looked especially small tucked so close to her mother, the two tiny girls barely took up any space on the bed and it made all the Galra in the room want to make sure that they were protected.

Everyone in that room was still struggling with wrapping their heads around how Pidge had just given herself up like that, even worse, how Brax said she'd /enjoyed/ it.

They couldn't understand it, they'd seen the scars and seen just how traumatized she was by the entire ordeal. The thought of her being in the same room as Brax was too much for her, for all of them.

None of them wanted to believe that Pidge had taken any enjoyment out of the incident. None of them planned on asking either.

Keith and everyone else looked up when Mercedes began to whimper and squirm, eyes opening and closing as her face began to turn pink.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," Keith groaned, scooping up the baby before she began to wail.

Mercedes cried loudly, tears running down her cheeks and squirming in her fathers arms. Keith frowned, moving so she was pressed against his chest and cradling her close.

"Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay-/ow!/" Keith yelped as Mercedes reached up and tugged harshly on his hair.

"Careful," Krolia smiled, "Galra kits become active very quickly."

"I noticed!" Keith growled, holding onto his new child with one arm while he tied his hair up.

Mercedes squealed loudly, head resting against Keith's chest as she reached for his hair. Her eyes were wide, clearly fascinated with it.

"Nope. Not for you." Keith purred, bouncing her a bit.  
"I wonder if Iverson and the others would want to meet you.."

Mercedes cheered, wiggling a bit to show her approval.

"Looks like someone wants to explore." Krolia smiled, walking over and gently running a hand through Mercedes thin hair.

The baby cooed, leaning into her grandmother's touch.

"Will it be okay if we do...?" Keith asked quietly, looking over at Pidge who was still sound asleep.

He didn't want to just take the baby away from her mother, especially if it would make Pidge mad when she woke up.

"I don't think she'll wake up for a while." Matt snorted, "and we'll all come with. Just to make sure no one gets Mercedes."

"Alright." Keith smiled, grabbing an extra blanket to wrap the little one up in.

Matt knew Pidge the best, so if he said it was okay Keith didn't doubt that it would be. 

They still wrote Pidge a note, just to be safe.

After wrapping Mercedes up and making sure she was comfortable they left, going to happily show off the baby to the people who'd been there to support Pidge but hadn't been allowed in the operating room.

They didn't even question the yelling coming from the hangar, knowing that people had been eager to get a swing at Brax.

They should've, because they weren't yelling because they wanted at Brax. They were yelling because he'd gotten at them.

Brax was a powerful, and well trained solider. He was furious and even worse, desperate.

Desperate to get to Pidge and Mercedes.

Desperate to get them out.

Desperate to keep them by his side. No matter what they wanted.

He was desperate to have Pidge and the baby as his and he would do what he needed to achieve that.

It was pure desperation and rage that fueled him when Brax took the first swing.

One hit was all it took for him to take Zethrid down, and only one more to take down Ezor. He'd dug his claws into the next person to even attempt to attack him, ripping into their skin and snarling as he tossed them across the room.

Blood coated his hands and fur as he ripped into every person who came close, it was a massacre, and serious damage was done to everyone.

Brax didn't kill them though. He wanted them alive. Wanted them to watch him win.

He wanted them to watch him take Pidge and Mercedes and win.

He shook out his hands, splattering blood across the floor as he tried to get it off quickly before grabbing a blaster.

Brax knew that the biggest issue would be finding Pidge, and he'd need some firepower to defend himself if someone tried to stop him.

He opened up the door, heading out into the wide hallway. It was bright, making him have to squint as his ears folded back while he grit his teeth. Huffing, Brax continued on.

He sniffed, trying to catch onto Pidge’s scent. Despite the fact that her new mother scent had been so strong, it was surprisingly faint out in the open.

He kept going, following it as far as he could before the scents of other muddled it up too much to pin point.

Brax growled, looking around and continuing on. He figured that if she was going to be anywhere, it would likely be somewhere in the infirmary. 

English, or at least it’s writing, was still new to Brax so it took him a bit longer than he cared to admit to find the infirmary. He mostly relied on his nose, following the scent of sterilization equipment and medicine.

There was a few doctors, but they hadn’t noticed him yet.

Brax made quick work of them, deciding to slash their throats with his claws to keep them silent.

He didn’t need them to see him win, they didn’t matter and it was because of them that his little one had been able to have his kit safely, he figured they deserved some mercy.

Brax purred when he found Pidge’s room, opening up the door quietly. 

He happily breathed in her scent, relieved to see that she was asleep. She’d given birth to a kit, afterall. She needed the rest.

He, however, was not happy that his kit was not there and snarled when he saw the note.

“Mercedes...” he murmured, at the very least content to know the name of his kit.  
“Alright, little one. Off to the ship, we’ll get you into bed and then I’ll retrieve Mercedes.”

Brax put the blaster across his back, easily in reach before carefully sliding his arms underneath Pidge and scooping her up.

He adjusted her so that her head was resting against his soft fur, making sure she seemed comfortable and was still asleep before heading back to the ship.

He was a bit quicker heading to the ship, he had precious cargo and needed to get her in a warm bed as soon as possible.

The blade members were still laying on the floor of the hangar, groaning in pain or barking out curses when he enters.

Brax just growled and ignored them, rushing to his ship and taking Pidge to the small living quarters within it.

The bed was humongous, even bigger than the bed they’d had when they made Mercedes so that Pidge would have plenty of room to lay down and nurse the kit with Brax close by.

He carefully laid her down, fussing over the pillows for a moment before draping a thick blanket over her and putting some water and food close by for her.

“I’ll be right back, just rest and feel better.” Brax purred, kissing Pidge on the forehead before grabbing another gun and heading out.

He had a kit to get.


End file.
